Live Whisper 2/20 - 4/6 Sydney to Singapore

We boarded the lovely Whisper in Sydney and had a wonderful sail away complete with a friend waving red flags from his apartment as we sailed by. We have sailed many times on the Whisper, and after having been on the much larger Muse most recently, we are happy to be back on the smaller ship. We have fewer than 300 passengers on board so dinner reservations are easy to make.

The Captain is Cataldo Destefano who is a most delightful person and actually remembered us from last year. The HD is Norman Rafelson with whom we had dinner on the first formal night. The CD is Fernando who is always a lot of fun especially since we enjoy his lectures on ocean liners and his language classes.

Overall, the service is quite good. Gilbert is the Maitre d’ assisted by Julia and Edward who are both very good at their jobs. Donato is the Maitre D’ in LT. We have long complained about the disjointed service in LT at breakfast and lunch, but it does seem to be somewhat better on this trip.

The food has been quite good with no misses so far. Of course food is subjective. We brought two bottles of Penfolds Bin 389 on board and were pleased to find that they also have it on board but at a slightly higher price.

The ambiance on the ship is good, and although we are segmentarians, have not felt that the world cruisers were cliquish (not sure if that is a word). Our trivia team consists of an Australian couple, a British couple who live in Florida and 5 from the US. We have come in second most days, but that doesn’t tell the whole story.

We are supposed to take a sea plane excursion today, but there is a lot of liquid sunshine which might cancel the flight. That would be a shame since it is a bucket list item.

I am happy to answer any questions.

Have an awesome cruise Emtbsam!

Nice to see you on the seas again. Enjoy your cruise!

Have a wonderful time Emtbsam's!

Sounds like a great start.

And you have the irrepressible and outstanding Donato!

Enjoy it all.

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I waved at you from the Voyager as we were pulling out of White Bay!

Hi! Looking forward to hearing your live reports. Good luck with Trivia...second is where we often were last fall, but remember, by the end we won the top spot and were the champs...surely you haven’t forgotten! That was such fun. Is Fernando still randomly whispering Trivia answers to his questions..like a naughty kid?

I thought Donato had retired. Great news that he is still the formidable Maître D in the Terrasse

Have a wonderful Voyage. I know you will!

Have a great time.

Keith

Thanks all for your bon voyage wishes.

Rachel... we tried to wave but since you were ahead of us, we really couldn’t. We did not spot his hat!

CrusinPashmina... Fernando has not changed. Trivia is very much a game with lots of opportunities for wrong answers to be correct. Yes, Donato is still here and he is assisted by the very professional and pleasant Edward.

Our float plane was cancelled yesterday. Instead we did a very arduous hike (at least for me) up Passage Point for a wonderful view of Hamilton Island and beyond. Well worth the effort.

I was not aware that last evening was a casual night or Bob would have worn his new Nigel Lincoln shirt. It was supposed to be a deck barbecue which we also hadn’t known. Instead, it was a galley dinner, one of the best in recent memory. The lobster was superb as were the garlic shrimp.

Today we played with koalas, snakes and lizards on Magnetic Island. Tomorrow will be the private boat to the Great Barrier Reef and a snorkel experience of a lifetime (we hope).

Victoria, sounds awesome so far. George did not have his hat on a sail away as we were going to dinner directly afterward. No doubt the reason you didn’t spot him.

Have a great trip!

Have a lovely time.

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We took the tour to Magnetic Island from Townsville and had the opportunity to play with koalas, pythons and lizards at an animal preserve. We also saw koalas in the wild.

Yesterday was the charter boat to snorkel at the Great Barrier Reef off Cairns. We were quite disappointed that the cost of the tour did not include taking the small boat to a much better viewing area, and since we didn’t have money with us, we could not take that tour. The water was quite rough which made the snorkeling more difficult.

The crew on the boat did a great job, but the tour was a bit of a disappointment. A better description of the tour would have given us the information we needed to have a better experience.

We had dinner at the Grill last evening with good food and top notch service.

Now we have 3 sea days before getting to Darwin.

Enjoy those relaxing sea days!

We had dinner with Captain Destefano and his wife and two other couples last evening. He is a delightful host and a very knowledgeable person. We are hopeful he will still be on board this fall when we are back.

We are having a sea day today. This evening we will be dining with Fernando, a French lady and another couple all of whom speak French to a greater or lesser degree. Looking forward to a lively evening.

Tomorrow we will take a tour from Darwin to Litchfield Park. Lots of bus time, but we are hopeful it will be worth the time.

There is lots of buzz on board about the 2020 World Cruise which will be a totally new itinerary. We might just book a segment of it if there is any room left once the full world cruisers have booked their cruises.

All sounds great Emtbsam, wish we were there with you! We received an e-mail from Silversea today, with the 2020 World Cruise info, offering the opportunity to book prior to the public sale. Maybe we'll like the same segments again?

Too bad about the Great Barrier Reef tour. Very disappointing, but everything else sounds great!

All sounds great Emtbsam, wish we were there with you! We received an e-mail from Silversea today, with the 2020 World Cruise info, offering the opportunity to book prior to the public sale. Maybe we'll like the same segments again?

I am trying to talk Bob into BA to Bali but for now he is worrying that we might be cruised out by then.

We arrived in Bali this morning and were at anchor for the day because the Regent Seven Seas Navigator had the dock space. We took a wonderful tour of temples and the orchid garden, and I had the opportunity to taste Luwak coffee. The last tender was at 6pm and we were supposed to move to the dock by 8pm when the Regent ship sailed. Unfortunately, the Regent Seven Seas Navigator ran aground when it was leaving port and we remain at anchor. According to the Captain, there will be not update until 2am. It would not surprise me if we remain at anchor tomorrow since the channel might be suspect. As far as we know, the Regent ship is fine and just waiting for high tide. Had I not run aground in my own boat in Florida last fall just before low tide, I might be more concerned for the other ship. In any event, we will know more in the morning when we either wake up docked or still at anchor.l

Bali is a wonderful visual experience. Just driving the streets, one’s senses are exposed to a vast aray of sights and smells. Traffic would be a nightmare by US standards, but the Balinese do not appear to suffer from road rage and deal with “flexible” driving conditions. Many cars double park which necessitates traffic on two lane roads to make do with the remaining space, all while not hitting any of the thousands of motor scooters making their own way through the traffic.

Tomorrow we will take the quad bike tour which we assume will be atvs through a muddy track since “showers are available” after the tour.